ASSIGNMENT

ON
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

VALUE, ATTITUDE & LIFE–STYLE

Submitted by: Augustine Jose

Submitted on: 25-02-2011
Roll No: 15

S3 MBA
VSMS
VALUES
Values are in compassing concepts. They are at the core of personality and therefore,
are a powerful, though silent force affecting behaviour values are so embedded that they can
be inferred from people’s behaviour and their expressed attitudes. Values have an important
influence on the attitudes, perceptions, needs and motives of people at work. Thus they are
important to the study of consumer behaviour.

The value is defined as a “concept of desirable and internationalised criterion or

standard of evaluation a person possesses. Values are attached with moral flavour, involving
an individual’s judgement of what is right, good or desirable.

Features of values

i. Provide standards of competence and morality.

ii. Values are fewer in number than attitude.
iii. Related to specific objects, situations or persons.
iv. Values are relatively permanent and resistant to change.
v. Values are most central to the core of a person.

Types of values

i. Terminal values.
‘Terminal values’ leads to ends to be achieved. The ends are like
a. Comfortable life.
b. Sense of accomplishment.
c. Family security.
d. Mature love.
e. Self respect.
f. Wisdom.

ii. Instrumental values.

‘Instrumental values relate to means for achieving desired ends. The ends are like
a. Ambition.
b. Courage.
c. Honesty.
d. Helpfulness.
e. Independence.
f. Imagination.

Values are learned and acquired primarily through experience with people and
institutions. As learning and experiences vary from one person to another, value
differences are the inevitable result.
Factors affecting values

i. Family factors.
A significant factor influencing the process of socialisation of an individual is
role of the family. The child rearing practices that parents uses shape one’s
individual’s personality.

ii. Social factors.

Of the societal factors school has a major role to play in the development of
values. Other institutions that may influence the values are religious, economic, and
political institutions in the society.

iii. Personal factors.

Personal attributes such as intelligence ability, appearance and educational
level of the person determine his development of values.

Fundamental forces shaping values

There are two types of sources which explain both consistency and changes in value:

i. The first source of values is based on institution like family, educational and religious
institution which inculcate permanent values in person.
ii. The second source of value is lifetime experiences, which occurs during social,
economic events, riots, terrorism, and during pleasurable moments of life.

Institutional influence on values

i. Family institutions
Family is the oldest and prime institution, one learn social and cultural values first
from his family.
ii. Religious and cultural institutions.
It is seen that generally religious institutions also play an important role in forming of
values in the members of that religious communities. These institutions are playing
important roles in transmitting values from one generation to other generation, but even in
these days these institutions have also faded their influence on the society.
iii. Educational institutions.
In these days the influence of education appears to be increasing partly because of the
increased participation of western countries in formal education and partly due to the
vacuum left by families and religious institutions.
Attitude
Attitude is an individual’s characteristic way of responding consistently in a
favourable or unfavourable manner to objects, people or events in his environment. An
individual’s behaviour is a function of attitudes. An attitude is a cognitive element; it always
remains inside a person.

Attitude has received a great importance in the consumer behaviour because attitude
research forms the basis for developing new products, re-positioning existing products,
creating advertising campaigns and predicting brand preferences as well as understanding
general purchase behaviour. Attitudes reflect settled behaviour and settled mode of thinking
as well as feeling.

Features of attitude

i. Attitudes are learned through experience.

ii. Attitude predisposes people to behave and respond in certain ways.
iii. Attitudes and behaviour confirm to a principle of consistency.
iv. The unfavourable or favourable manner of behaving reflects the evaluative
component of attitudes.

Functions of attitude

i. Attitudes determine meaning.

ii. Attitudes reconcile contradictions.
iii. Attitudes organise facts.
iv. Adjustment function.
v. Knowledge function.
vi. The value expressive function.
vii. The ego–defensive function.

FACTORS AFFECTING ATTITUDES

i. Psychological factors.
The psychological make-up of a person is made up of his perceptions, ideas,
beliefs, values, information, etc.

ii. Family factors.

A person learns from the family members who provide him with ready-made
attitudes on a variety of issues such as educations, work, health, religion, politics,
economics, etc.
 iii. Reference groups.
Reference group is any interacting aggregation of people that influences an
individual’s attitudes of behaviour.

iv. Social factors.

Social classes define the expectations of society for groups of people and for
families within the groups.

v. Political factors.
Political factors such as ideologies of the political parties, political stability
and the behaviour of the political leaders greatly affect the attitudes of the people.

vi. Mass communication.

The presentation of news or information through mass communication medias
are given affects the attitude of the audience.

vii. Direct experience.

The attitudes towards goods and services are formed through the direct
experience of consumer. They try those experiences and evaluating them for reacting.

viii. Direct marketing.

Direct marketing efforts have a capability of favourably influencing target
customers attitudes because the products or services offered are carefully designed to
address the individual segment’s needs and concerns of individuals.

ix. Mass media.

Mass media includes news papers, special interest magazines, television
channels etc. The exposure to these media of communication acts as important source
of information that influences the formulation of attitudes of individual consumer.

Different components of attitude

i. Cognitive or Informational Component.

ii. Effective and Emotional Component.
iii. Behavioural component.

Attitude describes an individual’s feelings, thoughts and predisposition to act towards

some object in the environment.
 Life style
One’s values, attitudes and perception are the indicators of internal state of mind,
where as lifestyles are the external and actual manifestation i.e, real outer picture of one’s
personality.

Life style refers to a pattern of consumption reflecting a person’s choice of how he or she
spends time and money. An individual life style is part of one’s personality and is correlated
with consumer value system.

Features of life style

i. Life style is group behaviour.
ii. One’s life style indicates his participation in special social group.
iii. It represents one’s quality of relationship with others.
iv. These are the signs of one’s interests, likings and preferences etc.
v. Life styles are the central of one’s life like family, work, leisure and politics etc.
vi. Life style also represents one s interactions with environment.
vii. Life styles are very flexible in nature.
viii. Nature of life styles changes from joint family to nuclear family concept.

Determinants of life style

i. Demographic
ii. Culture and sub-culture
iii. Personality
iv. Household life cycle
v. Social class
vi. Motives and emotions

The “VALS” Life Style

i. Actualizers
There are successful sophisticated, active people with high esteem and abundant
resources.

ii. Fufilleds.
These are satisfied, comfortable satisfied, motive and reflective people who value
order, knowledge and responsibility.
 iii. Believers.
Believers beliefs in well established organised routines in their homes, female’s social
religious and professional life.

iv. Achievers
They are status oriented and make a secure place in high social setting.

v. Strivers.
Strivers are always striving to find a secure place in life. They seek motivations, self-
definitions and approval from the world around them.

vi. Experiencers.
They are with wider and varied world experiences having a vital enthusiasm,
impulsive and rebellious native.

vii. Maker.
The experience the world by working on it i.e., by building, raising children, fixing a
car and have sufficient skill incomes and energy to carry out their projects successfully.

viii. Strugglers.
They are poor, ill-educated, low skilled having no much social bounds.

A life style recognises that people sort themselves into groups on the basis of the things
they like to do and how they like life to spend their leisure time and how they choose to
spend their disposable income. One’s activities, interests and opinions are reflected by
individual life styles. Two persons can never have exactly same type of life style. Different
people have got different activities, opinions and interests that are why they have different
life styles. Marketers do the market segmentation as per the life styles of people falling in
different segments.

Value, attitude and life style are very much influence the consumer behaviour. Thus the
studies of these three are very much important for implementing proper marketing strategies.
Value, attitude and life style all are having different perspective and dimension in the study of
consumer behaviour.